FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker announced new rules for air traffic controllers. He said that the new rules will require 10 hours of rest between shifts rather than nine, and 12 hours before a midnight shift, putting controllers on a par with pilots and flight attendants. The aim is to reduce fatigue among controllers and reduce the chance of mistakes. NBC News’ Tom Costello reports.
» Subscribe to NBC News: https://www.youtube.com/user/NBCNews
NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands that deliver compelling, diverse and engaging news stories. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows.
Connect with NBC News Online!
Breaking News Alerts: https://link.nbcnews.com/join/5cj/breaking-news-signup?cid=sm_npd_nn_yt_bn-clip_190621
Visit NBCNews.Com: https://www.nbcnews.com/
Find NBC News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBCNews
Follow NBC News on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NBCNews
Get more of NBC News delivered to your inbox: nbcnews.com/newsletters
#FAA #Aviation #AirTrafficControl
Safety first
Silly guy lost his job over stupidity 😮
Sounds like they need to start the samething they do for truck drivers. Give them a 70 hour clock for 8 days
Fake news, controllers arent overworked and under staffed
Its obviously dei playing a role in this
Clown
You are so wrong. My son is an ATC and they are overworked because they are understaffed. 6 day work week due to a mandatory OT shift every week since 2020.
@@NupSandCastle Blessings to your hardworking son. I hope he fares well. And is paid handsomely.
What makes you so confident about that BS?
@@JustSayN2O All that money and no time to spend it
we call these shifts turn and burn and they are very common in every industry this law does nothing it’s not enough
And the controllers wanted that the union.
Just say it out loud.
The DEI thing ain’t working out. Just like the whole Biden thing, a dumpster fire of toxic waste.
That Colorado baseball coach was under investigation already. Why isn’t been locked up yet
It was a chartered flight, it should not be an issue.
Locked up for what getting a tour?
Criminal act
DEI
Is the new republican talking point. What happened to Budlight and drag queen side shows? I’m sure they both still exist. So why have you guys stopped talking about them? But I guess that’s what happens when you are told when and what to be upset about.
The FAA never even asked about the hours between shifts they just did it on their own. 12 hours between a day shift and mid shift is crazy. This will only make staffing harder…
This is a good thing for us. Why are you acting like getting more rest is crazy. What’s crazy is the fact that it’s currently 8 hours before the mid. So you work 5:30am-1:30pm, then come back at 9:30pm the same day and work overnight? FOH. that’s just reckless and dangerous and we’ve known this all along but do it for our fake 3 day weekend.
Fake 3 day weekend?? No 3 day weekend. Most of us are on 6 day work weeks.
NATCA makes the schedule not the FAA. The union is at fault!
And these guys at DCA. Probably only actually work 4 hours a day. With. The hour on hour off breaks
@@Jmjbsyour mids start at 9:30? Weird. I go in at 10:30. This rule change will never be implemented. My facility does not have the staffing for that
How about actually fill the huge shortage of ATC? The government needs to fully fund the ATC budget and stop the yearly “we will think about” hiring and training. Stop stealing from the budget to send the funds elsewhere.
👏 finally, someone who knows what’s actually going on. Constant funding issues and abundance of political jumbo…since Canada ATC has been privatized away from government, their system has run well with minimal issues. The US federal government has drifted too far away from what’s best for our country, to being all about butting heads within parties, personal gain, and foreign interests
Can’t. We have to send that money overseas to countries that dont affect us, duh
@@DrMD-1if Ukraine falls, we will have an open war with Russia within 3 years as it’s next target will be NATO members. If Taiwan falls, nothing will be able to stop China from dominating in Asia and taking whatever it wants. If you can’t see how that would affect you, you are as blind as Moscow Marjorie.
Technically they do hire each year. Im currently in the hiring process….but it takes about a year minimum for it and so many hoops to jump through. Right now Im waiting for the firm offer letter to start the actual training. Hopefully within this month Ill get it.
The whole hiring process and training is in need of overhaul. They keep changing how they hire and trying to fill certain groups of trainees that they want and it is so slow. The problem is a constant fight between NATCA and the FAA on what the real staffing numbers are. NATCA will never be happy with the staffing numbers and the FAA will say NATCA is not reasonable….it goes in a circle.
1 more hour of rest won’t make much difference
Better than nothing.
@@ngonigriffith1491 No..not really. If it’s before a Mid shift that 1 hour will be used for something else.
@@KB-xd5wq you dont say
But don’t 20 minute power naps do some good? So it seems an hour could help a bit.
@@JakeC-xx8zq Absolutely right.
If you’re incompetent it doesn’t matter how rested you are. Isn’t the first rule of ATC being sure aircraft do not cross active runways while another plane is taking off on the same runway? This is about as stupid as it gets. You have one job to do and you better do it 100%. Don’t expect anyone to get fired. Perhaps sensitivity training is in order.
I am Tower ATCO from Europe and 12h break between shifts is minimum and max 160h per month of duty time.
As it should be. This whole problem in the US is because of the controllers union. The controllers want it and play political games to keep it.
@@toddw6716 what?
This won’t save lives
If anyone heard the atc audio, you would know what the real problem was.
She was working the drive-thru at some fast food joint the day before?
I’ve heard that voice before.
I heard it.
Haven’t heard. What was the real problem?
@@kevinscoggin3286Ground cleared a rather long taxi route, including clearing crossing an active runway. Then Tower cleared a takeoff from same runway. Tower did not know, or forgot, that Ground “owned” the runway from previous crossing clearence. People also argue about if there are two different voices on Ground frequency (could just be different voice from same ATC when freaked out, I guess). So possibly it was multiple ATC (shift change?) or two ATCs failed to communicate who “owned” the runway. But the gist of it: Ground and Tower authorized takeoff and crossing of same runway, supervisor alerted them (heated in background of a call), both ATC issued aborts. So multiple people involved, and we don’t know the reason, what processes this ATC crew has to avoid issuing colliding clearances. But Tower/Ground collaboration failed, supervisor saved everyone.
When air traffic controllers complained about the same things in 1982, Reagan just fired them all. Nothing improved.
He fired them for striking….not complaining. Big difference
Striking is part of the complaint process. Reagan was an ideologue who believed government alone (and not corporate greed) contributed to all the costs being passed down to customers.
@@doujinfliphe fired them for striking because we as controllers have the ability to literally shut down the country.
Striking is not part of the complaint process when you are in an “Office of Public Trust” and have signed the employment agreement saying you won’t strike. Union bungled it. As ATC you have two choices, work or quit.
Striking was illegal…..they had worked out a contract and decided it wasn’t good enough.
Just let AI do it, no mistakes.
Exactly
Really?
Put Skynet in control. What could possibly go wrong?
If you can”t use AI for controllers you can’t use AI for cockpit.
Perhaps the FAA can stop with the DEI crap. They’re clearly putting the public at risk.
not that it matters too much but the clip at 0:17 is a flight simulator not a real incident
it is a real incident, just someone simulated it.
And this is the caliber of the average new-hire we have to deal with… *sigh*
0:15 That is a flight simulator…
Classic Golden State 🌉
I went to college for ATC and have been trying to get hired for 4 years. Instead the FAA hires people with little to no aviation experience at a rate of 10:1. 25% of those people fail out of the training academy. Utterly ridiculous.
Id like to see your source for the 10:1 and washout claim
You’re probably the wrong skin color and gender.
I had to break it to you but part of the 25 percent wash out rate is college ATC grads
Maybe score better on the ATSA and they will hire you because you’d be qualified enough. Don’t blame others that can do the job just because the FAA wont lower the bar for you.
Maybe you are not good enough?
😊Good initiative after a long time 😁
I’m confused about the last part where the pilots were banned for letting apassenger in, because it was a chartered flight. Surely if you’re renting the entire aircraft you can go in the cockpit, because why not. It’s different if you’re just a passenger on a commerial flight.
Saved me the trouble of writing this. FAR 121 are scheduled airline operations, very strict, micromanaged at every turn. FAR 135 is charter operations, a bit more lenient, though not nearly as much as 91 general aviation. Without digging up my book, if I recall, the security protocol really doesn’t apply to part 135, even if it is operated by an airline that operates to part 121 in every other fashion. If it were scheduled, they’d be in a whole mess of trouble. As a charter, the union will have them back in two shakes.
@jaysmith1408 121 operators must follow 121 rules on safety and operations whether operating as a 121 scheduled or 135 charter. Plus the airline has their own rules to meet.
Those pilots will be lucky to be flying paper airplanes out an office window.
It was at 9 Hours between shifts? This is insanity.
Where I’m from the minimum hours between two workdays (not shift work) ist 11 hours.
And we are talking Air Traffic Controllers here. They should get MORE rest between shifts than the standard retail or office worker.
So just from eyeballing it I’d say 14 hours would be more appropriate.
We have what are called quick turns. So for example, my second and third work day goes like this. Day 2: 1:30pm-9:30pm. Day 3: 7:40am-3:40pm. My day 4 and 5 are even worse. I get 8 hours between shifts
@@markf19 For me…I have a harder time going from a night to a day shift than from a day shift to a mid. Anyone on a 2-2-1 schedule will have sleep issues…. there isn’t enough staffing to give everyone 10 or 12 hours between every shift
It’s terrible. My 9 hours between shifts gives me 8 hours max to be at home when you take away drive time to/from work. I can’t magically go to sleep walking in the door and wake up dressed and ready the next day, so it turns out to be about 6 hours of actual sleep. Not safe or healthy but here we are.
@@KB-xd5wq That’s not an excuse.
If there arent enough people then the solution cannot be reducing Breaks, but reducing coverage.
This will simply meant that during certain hours there has to be curfew on flying.
@@Quotenwagnerianer For me it’s not the 8 or 9 or 10 hours breaks between shifts that’s the issue. It’s working 6 day weeks over and over. After the controller strike they cut the number of flights. If they force a 10 or 12 hours between shifts in some facilities it will create a worse situation than they already have.
Cannibals won’t be allowed
A cannibal ate my uncle Bosie! – Joe Biden
Nine!? They’ve only been sleeping Nine!?
Who said sleeping?
9, including going gome, showering, eating, sleeping, eating again and driving to work
No, that’s nine hours between shifts. I have roughly a 30 minute commute each way. So that immediately knocks it down to 8
Nine hours off. Figure 30mins each way back and forth to home (now 8 hrs of rest time available), 30mins to unwind and grab a meal (7:30 hrs left), maybe 30mins to spend with spouse/kids (7hrs left), then you have a shower and other bodily functions to attend to before next shift, figure 30min there (6:30 left), and most people don’t drop right off to sleep, right? Figure 15-30mins to fall asleep (6:15-6:00 left) and then you need time to wake up on the other end, maybe pound a big coffee before your shift, then get dressed and head in, 30mins there (5:15-5:00).
So most are lucky if they can grab 5hrs of actual sleep between the quickturns.
But it’s okay. At a commercial airport, on the low end, controllers are only directly responsible for the safety of two or three thousand people during any one session on the scopes or in the tower.
It’s fine. Really, it’s just fine….
@@atcatorl yes. just fine
It’s due to diversity hires.. sleep has nothing to do with it
The controllers union Natca wanted those hours with less sleep. The controllers and their union make up the work schedule. They caused. This not the FAA.
After the guy fell asleep at DCA in 2011, the agency said they were eliminating the quick turn, where the controller worked 3-11 and then had to be back at 7am the next day. They said you had to have 9 hours off. They were also supposed to eliminate the rattler schedule. It wasn’t 5 minutes before the controllers union NATCA was trying to get the same schedule back. FAA management looks the other way because they are afraid of the union and political power to get congress on their side because they donate money big time. This is why government employees shouldn’t have a union. Government employees are treated well and have no need to have political activity.
If the government and the FAA didn’t make controllers retire at 56 they would have plenty of people! The union wants this because they want to keep younger people. Age has no affect on this job. Controllers should have the option to retire at 56 not be forced! I have seen controllers who came back from the strike settlement who were in their mid to late 60’s do the job as well as todays youth!! With no errors and a 15 year break in the career.
56 is definitely too young, but difficult to know where to draw the line across a large number of controllers with different backgrounds. 60-65 would likely still be fine. Also, the FAA presumably doesn’t want to end up with mostly old controllers for various reasons, including working conditions and economics.
Age has an effect. I’ve witnessed it first-hand, but experience can mitigate it somewhat. Retirement should be based on performance evaluation and not a random age number. You observation is valid in that respect. The union shares equal blame with the FAA for the current shortage.
@@ronbennett7885 N90 is a young man’s game but plenty of other facilities that “old” controllers can still be effective.
LOL….and I’ve seen a lot of rehires end up in office jobs or only work the valleys. 56 may be too young….but there has to be a way to force out a old unsafe controller. They have hard enough time washing out the bad young controller trainees.
@@kevinscoggin3286 I agree
And which party always wants to underfund or defund very necessary government functions like Air Traffic Control?
For those who are not pilots and have never experienced ATC first hand, you are missing out on understanding why our domestic aviation industry is so safe. Our controllers are overwhelmingly professional and careful doing what at times is the most fast paced and demanding job. Listen to some of the many, many recordings on YouTube of controllers at many airports, but especially high volume airports like LAX, JFK, ORD, ATL, and LGA to get an understanding of their at times uber stressful jobs and just how unruffled and professional these folks are, especially at times when there are emergencies. Then consider how well you would do in the same situations.
The next time you step onto a commercial flight, know you are not alone. Throughout every stage of that flight the Pilot in Command and Co-Pilot are communicating with enroute Air Traffic Control, tower, and ground controllers. It is a team effort on every commercial flight for our safety and comfort.
And if you are not yet a pilot, go to a local airport and at least take one demo flight or sign up for your pilot training. Nothing like your first solo landing.
Mmmmm. We are good at our jobs, yes. Professional… debatable lol
@@markf19 Mark, I have over 7,000 hours. ATC is overwhelmingly professional and very competent.
@@markf19 haha
@@stuartfeen9236 I agree for the most part…..there are a lot of great controllers who want to do a good job. But I have been in ATC for many years and I have seen the issues in training. The process in how they hire and how they train. Of recycling trainees until they pass. I know of a trainee that was in the system for over 10+ years and never got checked out. Just kept filing grievances and restarting training. Fatigue is part of the problem…but there are many more issues that have been going on
More rest, training, etc are helpful, but alone isn’t enough. Should be more spacing between aircraft during takeoffs and landings. Airports don’t want to build more runways, but comes with a tradeoff of safety. Seems luck is about to run out unless there are procedural changes too. Tech alone won’t fix this.
Separation requirements are fine
Too many airplanes pushing back all at the same time maybe idk 🤷🏻
Airline schedules play a role. If they would collaborate their schedules more efficiently, maybe we could avoid “rush hours” on the tarmac.
@@kevinscoggin3286 good point !
I remember back in the 90’s are first outbounds were at 0700 hrs
Nowadays its’s at 0400-0500.
Let the folks have some coffee and relax a tad jeez lol
Wow they didn’t have that set from the beginning??!!
Corporate-style “cost cutting” for efficiency, which people forget competes against resilience.
This rule will never be implemented. We don’t have the staffing to cover current traffic volume. This is a fairy tale
Usually people have to die to get a rule change…..what’s happening…..are we learning….?
COVID brain … Enjoy the ride!! 🤣🤣
lol we don’t have staffing to do this. The mid rule itself wrecks this. We currently get 8 hours between our morning and mid shift
There’s a larger ATC deficit than there is for pilots
Literally just throw money at this problem. They need more trainers, more funds for training, more controllers. You can’t strangle ATC funds then act shocked when planes are having near misses.
Need to work on radio systems too. A lot of “stepping” on each other at airports.
Biggest problem with atc is that our pay isn’t even remotely keeping up with inflation.
See what FAA makes versus the Contract Controller at small regional towers. Talk about not keeping up. How about far behind?
Not sure what facility you are from…..but the pay is good where I am. Would I like more….SURE. Along with a 4 day work week and 2 months AL
That’s not an excuse. People don’t become an atc because of the salary.
@@j.a.3138 We don’t? News to me. I guess maybe some take the job because the headsets make us look cool… 🙄
@@atcatorl Yeah, let me become a doctor because it pays good and it makes me look cool wearing the stethoscope around the neck. Nice logic
I retired from ATC 10 years ago when the FAA just started using a personality test as a main guide for hiring controllers. NATCA went along with it. I bought it up to NATCA about this idiocy and subsequently got censured. Then the FAA went to “train to succeed” which means basically no failures. Lots of experienced people never got hired and the FAA hired rejects.
NATCA has no control over hiring. It’s not a permissive subject in the contract but nice try troll.
Hi FAA – in the past you carved out cargo pilots from enjoying the rest rules that passenger pilots enjoy – are you doing the same for controllers? If they are controlling a cargo flight they are subject to less strict rest rules?
Mandatory diversity hirings are the cause of near accidents like this. Hire based on skill not to check a box for woke agendas.
The FAA has no such diversity hirings.
The ATC job requirements are quite demanding, you cannot be older than 31 when applying. You must have a four year college degree. You must pass federal drug testing which includes weed because weed is still illegal federally. You must pass a class 2 physical. You have to give up your entire life and move to where you are assigned to for ATC, you do not get a choice.
Then once accepted into the ATC academy, the washout rate is immense.
It’s basically not a fast food job my dude, they are going as fast as they can to hire but it’s quite a high bar of individuals they are trying to acquire each year.
And then earlier this week at JFK there was a similar issue. Ground cleared four planes to cross an active runway at the same time Tower cleared one for takeoff.
The 12 hour requirement before mid decimates controller current work schedules at 24 hour facilities. It is simply not feasible.
If republicans ever come to power, all this will end. Republicans ruined the country with deregulations!
VOTE BLUE
Give them a raise too. They haven’t gotten a decent raise to counter inflation. They’re stressed
Would be so nice if doctors had this too
Maybe relax the rules about people with ADHD on a medical not being able to take any medications. You’ll get a lot of applications.
can I get the @ of the guy in back at 0:54
DEI baby!!
Typical government, reactive instead of proactive
Aviation field these days… Sigh!
Amazing–whenever I hear about pilot or airline transgressions, it’s usually United involved. A baseball coach in the pilot’s seat during an active flight–what on earth were the flight crew thinking?
As a pilot, I can tell you 10 hours isn’t enough.
pilots letting that man in. is the dumbest thing ive seen from pilots
Mandatory overtime?
Stop making the most experienced controllers retire. Keep them onboard for leadership on the job even if it is part time. The FAA is trying to cause a disaster.
As a pilot myself, i could never expect atc to work longer hours than I do. The good folks there make this all possible
Have these pilots learned nothing from 9/11? 🙄
We need more controllers, and our controllers need more rest.
Yes should rest
Let’s keep it multi cultural, not BET, if we’re going to be showing nothing but black Americans at least pretend not to mimic racsim with reverse racism..its literally the same thing youre doing.makes me wonder about democrat party and how they literate themselves through black Americans